The Monticello Lady Buckaroo volleyball team kept their winning ways intact last week with two wins over rival-neighbors San Juan and Grand, but the price for the victory might have been great.

Senior leader and recent prep of the week Ashley Ewart injured her knee in the warm-ups to the San Juan match in Blanding.

Preliminary reports are that Ewart might have torn her ACL, but an MRI on Monday will be needed to confirm the early diagnosis.

Ewart, a mainstay of the Buckaroo front line for the past four years, is the source of much of the Buckaroos go-power, with her hitting and blocking. Her force that will be hard to replace for the number one ranked Lady Bucks.

Monticello won the first game, 25-15, but fell the game Broncos 25-22 in the second game. The Buckaroo balance reasserted itself, with the hitting of Atlanta Black, Izabel Slade, Averi Christensen, and Marci McDougal, who replaced Ewart for most of the night.

The Buckaroos took both the third and fourth games to claim the win, 25-19 and 25-9.

On Thursday night, the Bucks traveled to Grand to take on the Red Devils, winning in straight sets, in a confidence-building win.

The Bucks jumped to a lead early in each set, winning 25-19, 25-13 before being pushed to the limit in the third game, finally prevailing, 26-24, to run their record to a shiny 10-4 mark.

This week finds the Buckaroos in Cortez, CO on Tuesday, for a match against the Panthers. The Panthers are 3-7 for the year and coming off a straight game loss to Monument Valley Arizona, who have won four of the last seven state volleyball titles in Arizona.

FootballThe Buckaroo football team suffered through their second consecutive loss, after getting beat Friday night on the road at the hands of the Duchesne Eagles, 31-0.

Though the Bucks lead the all-time series with the Eagles, 23-18, the number one ranked Eagles have had the Bucks number for the eight games in a row.

Make it nine as the Eagles jumped on the undermanned Buckaroos right from the start, scoring the first four times they had the ball to jump to a 24-0 lead at halftime.

The Bucks, playing without five offensive starters, only managed 26 yards rushing and three yards passing in that first half and four first downs.

Meanwhile, the Eagles had their way as they rushed for 141 yards and three TDs, averaging 7.3 yards per play.

Buckaroo starters Alma Beh, Thomas Anderson, Tanner Holt, and Nathan Moore sat the game out with some nagging injuries, but should be back for an important region clash in Monticello Friday against Parowan.

With Anderson and Beh, the Buckaroo mainstays at running back, out, the Buckaroos struggled to establish any kind of inside or outside running game, managing only six more rushing yards in the second quarter, to total just 32 yards on the ground for the game and getting shutout for the second time in a row.

The passing game struggled even more, completing just five passes for minus one yards.

The Parowan Rams, back in 1A for the first time in decades, roll into Monticello with a 1-3 record, after getting shellacked last week by the Milford Tigers, 56-28.

The Bucks and the Rams haven’t met on the gridiron since 2008, when they met in the first game of the season with Parowan coming out on top 24-12. The two Buckaroo touchdowns in the game were TD passes from Daniel Torres to Gabe Beh and Devin Wright.

The two teams opened the season in 2007 also, with the Bucks prevailing 12-6. Buck alums Cory Eardley and Kelvin Curtis scored in that game, Eardley on a 32-yard pass from Torres, and Curtis on an 87-yard kickoff return.

In 2006, the Bucks won also, with Kedrick Curtis running the ball and Jared Anderson handing off and throwing.

2005 was a 28-0 win for the Bucks with Wade Eldredge, Wes Hawkins and Justin Keyes scoring touchdowns and Zach Allred adding the extra points.

Remember those games, you Buckaroo fans? Monticello holds a 5-1 series lead on the Rams.

X CountryThe Buck harriers traveled to Durango two weeks ago to run in an interesting format, nighttime cross country. The Buck boys came in sixth with Tyler Bird finishing 15th.

“Definitely interesting,” said Buckaroo coach Jeff Hunt, “running in the dark… the JV was faster than varsity due to the visibility of your footing.”

It was still light when the JV hit the track but dark by the time the varsity boys hit the course, a rambling course along some hiking trails and across a golf course.

See you on the XC course, the gridiron and the volleyball court this week!

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